April 5, 2005

A small tower in Torremolinos. The sign says “Hidroelectrica del Chorro”.
This was the first company producing electricity in Málaga.
“El Chorro” is a small village near the dam and hydroelectric plant in Antequera, but the name also refers to the whole “Andalusian lake district” with its famous climbing opportunities.

September 26, 2004

In addition to the country sections, there also are some thematic categories.
You will find the same pictures by browsibg through all countries, but
if you are interested in a certain subject (e.g. "night photography")
you can retrieve the respective photos with one click.

Please note that one photo may occur in several categories (e.g. under
"architecture" and "religions".

the Maya temples of Copán (Honduras), Buddhist statues, a peasant
returning from the field in Bali, Japanes theatre and a tea ceremony,
the ancient temples of Ggantija (Malta) and the Great wall in China.

September 3, 2004

The elaborate tiles are omnipresent in Southern Spain and Portugal: you find them as decorative elements on houes, but also as street sign, on park benches, in churches and many other likely and unlikely places.
The plaza des España in Seville is full of them and even the “Torre del Oro” (Golden Tower) gets its colour from gilded azulejos!
Usually, azulejos are mostly blue, as the name seems to indicate (azul=blue), but just about all other colours may be present as well.

As to the origin of the name azulejo: although the connection to the Spanish word for “blue” seems obvious, experts come up with a different etymology - from Arabic “Al Zulai” meaning brick.
Now, these tiles are neither completely blue nor bricks, but in any case truly photogenic!

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August 24, 2004

A few days ago I had the privilege to see Machu-Picchu (Peru) and I burned lots of film!
One piece of advice: the light is truly magical around sunrise.
Also, there are hardly any tourists - the big buses arrive aeround 10 am.
So, I’d recommend to be in Aguas Calientes the day before visiting the ruins, taking the bus at 5:30 am. Even before sunrise, the sky was remarkably bright and I could easiliy take picture with my 50 mm lens (1:1.4) and shortly after with the normal zoom (Minolta 24-85).

Laurenz
PS: when I left the site, two Viszcachas were sitting on the main entrance, but none of the tours saw them! Watch out for little humming birds as well!

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August 21, 2004

Whoever is following this photolog: I´m currently in Aguas Calientes, the village next to Machu Picchu. New photos will be posted once I come back from Peru - but possibly I´ll also add some personal impressions…

To take the "guided tours" of Northern India, click on any of the
above images to select a photo gallery, then follow the arrow keys.
Point the mouse cursor on an image to see a short description or click on
it to view a larger version.

July 20, 2004

One of the most impresive sights in Hiroshima are the innumerable brightly coloured paper cranes at the Children’s Peace monument.
I was told that the origami cranes had become a powerful peace symbol because of the story of a little Japanese girl who developed leukemia 10 years after the nuclear bomb had been dropped.
She had begun to fold 1000 origami cranes but died before she could complete her task. Others continued for her and there are thousands and thousands of new cranes every year.

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July 19, 2004

The cathedral of Monreale was built by king William II who wanted it to be a sign of his power and sovereignty - outdoing the existing basilica in which the bishop (Walter of the Mill, an Englishman) resided.
A few years later, the bishop ordered his basilica to be torn down - and a new one to be erected in its place.
In any case, the cloister of Monreale is a beautiful place - and you can spend lots of time examining the architectural details: almost every column has an individual design..

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July 18, 2004

From mails and guest book entries, it is clear that many of the people visiting this site are fellow-photographers.
So, why not talk directly to each other?
I created a “yahoo club” for travel photography back in 1998 and this group now has more than 2000 members.
So, if you want to ask for advice, discuss photo issues or post some photos to the group galleries, Travel Photo Forum might be of interest to you.

Still, there are many other photo sites that have equally good - or even better - pictures.
How do you get there?
I have linked to some of the sites I like myself and of course, there always are search engines like Google.

Another Option is Webrings. A webring combines different sites on a given subject matter, using a simple navigation system. It’s up to the ring manager to decide which sites to accept, but ideally you’ll have a chance to easily follow a way through many high-quality pages.
One ring I manage is Travel Photo Webring, another one I would recommend is Photography and Travel by my friend Ralf Büschges.
Some more rings I maintain.

Try this - I hope you’ll have a your fascinating virtual journey !
However, if you should find a break in the navigation of one of my rings - or a site that really doesn’t belong there: please tell me! I make a point of visiting the member sites myself from time to time, but it may take a while to check out thousands of pages…

July 4, 2004

You find some pictures
from France over at the main site. Currently, there are pictures from Paris and Southern France.
You can see a slightly unusual shot of the Pyramid at the Louvre, Notre Dame de Paris, the fountain at the Louvre by Niki de Saint Phalle, the Seine, the Bois de Boulogne, fields at dawn in the Gascogne, an old castle, market dayin Tolouse,a monastery, parks, old houses

June 29, 2004

The Red Sea is a paradise for scuba divers. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an under-water camera with me there.
However, even from dry land, you could see swarms of colourful fish, like the one in the picture.

So, if you see any German texts or Chinese characters (no ideas where those came from) please don’t worry. Translation should be finished soon and then, I’ll also take care of the layout.
Meanwhile: enjoy the photos!

June 11, 2004

As the name suggests, the Greek theatre was originally a Greek construction, but later changed by the Romans.
The Romans built the brick wall that now obstructs mosts of the view of
Mount Etna.
Still, it’s a marvellous atmosphere! The theatre is still used, today.

January 23, 2004

I already have several websites with photo galleries - so why create an additional Photolog.
Scanning a large number of photos from a trip and designing a photo gallery takes lots of time and I already have a large “backlog” of unscanned photos.
Also, often, there are interesting photo news, tips and tricks that do not really fit on the main website.
Weblog technology does not help with the scanning, but makes it very easy to quickly publish a photo or a short article.
Also, this format is perfect for individual contributions - even without any further context.

All photos on Travelphoto NET: Copyright Laurenz Bobke.
Copyright for the photos on the Outstanding Travel Photos blog: the individual photographer Republication only with my written permission, and only with proper credit (including a link back to this site if shown on the web).